ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how, when and why the various definitions of middle power (MP) were constructed. It contributes to the classification of MP by reading it through the lens of a dialectical process and separating it from time and space. The body of the chapter reviews the various methods of definition. This review validates and justifies the new theoretical method of definition that is presented. While the specifics of MP theory languished in the late 1800s, one broad theoretical addition was made to the general theory of the states system. James Lorimer, an Edinburgh Regius Professor of Public Law and of the Law of Nature and of Nations, published The Institutes of the Law of Nations in 1883. Lorimer argued that the lack of thought and the resulting lack of theory concerning the relations between states had led to the adoption of an unsubstantiated theory which viewed all states as equal.
